Running On Empty

I went running today. At the gym.



It is the new way that I like to spend my days off. Instead of going to a class. Unless there is a yoga class, of course. ;)



It seems to work better with my schedule ( my day off mean TONS of errands) not to mention that I really just need the running practice. How else will I be successful at running a race? Or just calling myself a runner... for that matter.



So, I entered the super dark theater and climbed up on a treadmill. Actually, I STEPPED up on a treadmill. I'm short... but not that short to have to "climb".



Unfortunately, they were showing the movie "Fool's Gold". Now, it's not really a bad movie per se... but it is not necessarily one that I need to see twice. I blame it on Matthew McConaughey (gasp!). I realize that he is a LOT of ladies' fantasy and I'm sure he is super nice and wonderful. But I tend to like my guys with a little less ( not much at all) hair. And there is the assumption that I have that he probably smells like a sweaty trash can.



I'm just sayin'.



However, I must state for the record that I am totally and completely in love with Johnny Depp - who has lots of hair and probably smells like a sweaty trash can - but he is also a pirate and therefore can sleep in my guest room any day.



But who cares about the movie. Because I was there to run, after all. And run I did. Except for I made the BIG mistake of trying to set the treadmill to a 5K run.... instead of a manual. I thought it would be a great way to time myself and get a feel for running a race. Except for that the machine went wild and went up and down in speed. Which resulted in me running like I was being chased by Jason Voorhees. My nemesis.



So, after I caught my breath and got control of the treadmill, I settled for a manual run with a little fast walking at a major incline.



It was quite the sight to see... I am sure. In fact, I think the lady on the elliptical behind me just stopped working out and watched the show.



I do what I can to entertain others at the gym.



Just not by choice.



In other news..... we had Shrimp Scampi tonight. I got the recipe from a fabulous blog called The Girl Who Ate Everything. She actually posted it over the summer...so, I have made it MULTIPLE times. It is super easy and refreshing and delicious.



Not to mention the yummy carbs that my body needed after a good run. I was starving!



And just in case I didn't get enough carbs from the whole wheat linguine, I bought some fresh bread from Publix...

It is sourdough. But with nine grains and nuts and seeds. Heaven in a loaf. A little Smart Balance and some freshly shaved parm....and it became the perfect addition to the scampi.

(AND I've got leftover bread for my eggs in the morning!)

The only changes I made to the recipe were that I used whole wheat linguine and NO butter. It makes the sauce much lighter and not as rich. However, I'm sure the butter makes this recipe out of this world!

I was also out of fresh parsley - so I used dried. Meh.

The shrimp that I got was from Publix. In the frozen section of the seafood department. It was raw, deveined, tails off.

For years I bought the cooked shrimp from Publix. And then I would make the recipe exactly how it said to and my shrimp would come out so tough and rubbery.

BECAUSE IT WAS ALREADY COOKED.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to figure that one out. But this shrimp is PERFECT. AND I don't have to deal with deveining or anything remotely gross.

The lemon is the best part of the recipe (to me). I LOVE lemon. And Kev bought me the most wonderful tool to zest a lemon. It is a Microplane zester. It is SO much better than the ones that I had purchased in the cooking sections of stores. And he got it off of Amazon which means it only cost a wink and a smile.

Look at all that yummy lemon zest...

And I finally got to use my new tool that I received for Christmas from Kev's Aunt Kim. It is SO much better than squeezing the lemons in my fist.

The finished product.....

Unfortunately, it looks like a big plate of khaki. But, believe me, it was very flavorful. And made enough for FOUR more meals. Gotta love that.

And now my poor dishwasher is running for the THIRD time today. That's THREE times in ONE day! Ridiculous. I would highly recommend to any one remodeling their kitchen to go ahead and install two dishwashers. That is ... if you like to cook.

Or maybe I just need someone to teach me how to load a dishwasher.